Friday, December 9, 2011

New Year's Eve

In recent years, there is a robust trend in China's
filmmaking—in the end of each year, a few films are
wildly released as "New Year's celebration film"
(贺岁片). These films almost always have
a large number of biggest stars, the highest expectation,
the most expensive budget, and an ultimate goal to
entertain, which means often they are comedy and
blockbusters at the box office.

It looks like Hollywood is taking notice about this
formula. For this holiday season, using a similar recipe,
here comes a US-version of "New Year's celebration film"
called
"New Year's Eve"
(USA 2011 | 118 min.).

The film gathers an impressive list of Hollywood's most
recognizable actors, including many Oscar winners, to play
in a multi-thread story. However, none of these plots stands out to be
significant or interesting. The existence of many
characters seems to serve one purpose only—so that a big
star can be included in this film.

As if walking on the red carpet to attend
the Golden
Globe Award gala, these actors keep entering into the
film while new subplots are constantly introduced. It is
meaningless to enumerate each of these subplots, but they are
basically falling into one of these categories: to
reconciliation in a relationship, to seize the
opportunity, or to give a second chance on the New Year's
Eve of 2012. They are ludicrous and tiresome.

Never mind there are 24 time zones in this world. Somehow
the countdown at Times
Square becomes the turning point for a new year. No matter
how freezing cold and chaotic on New Year's Eve at Times
Square, people seem enjoy themselves for simply being
there.

That might explain why these talented actors all sign up
in this film, as if being casted in this film is
similar to finding a perfect spot at Times Square on New
Year's Eve. Nothing else matters.

Next year, instead of repeating this "New Year's celebration
film" recipe from China, Hollywood should just import a film
from China. At least that would be authentic. It is
already noon in China when the giant ball drops at Times
Square anyway.